Need for enterprise chat apps in the healthcare sector

Need for enterprise chat apps in the healthcare sector

Organisations in the healthcare sector are accustomed to critical situations such as an emergency call for a certain doctor/nurse, a sudden IT outage, or a regulatory compliance change that warrants immediate attention from multiple stakeholders. Traditional internal communication channels can be ineffective in such scenarios. While many hospitals continue to rely on quick and inexpensive corporate email messaging, e-newsletters, or bulletins for communication, these methods remain ineffective since many workers like nurses and physicians are unable to check emails frequently. Not all workers, like janitors, have access to email. This is where multi-channel desktop and mobile messaging software come in and help improve internal communication within the hospital.

Ensuring that hospital workers receive, view and understand important internal communications isn’t just a business requirement. It is a moral imperative given the nature of this industry. Hospitals are equipped with some of the most advanced technology available today, but when it comes to communication, healthcare workers are still using outdated technology like pagers. Here are some ways in which enterprise chat apps will benefit this dynamic industry:

Improved communication across departments: Hospitals can be chaotic, with so many people to deal with, from doctors to patients and insurance companies. When it comes to internal communication with healthcare professionals, it must be as efficient and swift as possible. So, it becomes an issue when employees face difficulty getting the job done, having to wait for responses. An inclusive communication platform that allows you to reach your staff through instant messages is much more efficient than traditional forms of communication.

Knowledge sharing platforms: Doctors can share case histories, patient testimonials, success stories etc. with other doctors, thereby creating a social platform for effective knowledge sharing. By getting the right content to right segments, enterprise chat apps help educate employees about various developments in the healthcare sector, keep them updated and inspire them, thus increasing transparency, trust and loyalty.

Instant feedback & analysis: It is important to get feedback from your employees on a periodic basis and act on it immediately. Analysis of content provides passive feedback to healthcare administrators – they can know what content is working and what is not. They can also look at which segment of their employees are active and try new tactics with segments that are not highly engaged. By pushing surveys, healthcare administrators can get active feedback from their employees. It is also important for them to review and act on this as soon as possible. These apps allow all this and much more, in turn improving the overall productivity of the organization.

Time savings: Any amount of time wasted in a hospital could lead to delay in providing the right treatment to the patient, increased length of stay for patients etc. which in turn drives up hospital costs. Hence, if the communication is outdated and does not improve, it could end up costing your facility more and will only add to the problem. Enterprise chat apps make communication between all the departments swift and easy, making them preferable than emails as a form of workplace communication.

Keeping up with constant change: The healthcare industry is always in flux. From innovative technology to new government regulation, it’s a challenge for hospital leaders to keep up with new standards. A hospital’s IT strategy must embrace change rather than be fearful of failure. The technology available today will only help solve the internal communication challenges hospital employees face today. An enterprise communication platform will give your team the ability to communicate with greater purpose and efficiency.

Easy access to information: If you have ever worked in a healthcare system, you know how tough it is to get information from management or know what is happening in your company in general. Most healthcare workers, including physicians, nurses, lab technicians and others, are always on the move making it tough to access any intranet website on a desktop. Not only that; complex access restrictions and protocols make accessing these websites even tougher. Lack of proper communication and disengaged employees in turn results in high turnover. An enterprise chat platform will give all employees access to all relevant hospital records and documents at the click of a button.

Hence, as workforce and technologies evolve fast, the healthcare industry must move quickly to revamp their internal communication platforms and strategy, in order to remain competitive.